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The Tales of the Scarlet Suns - Ch 10: Truths and Acceptance

The Watchmen on duty looked down from the top of the gate as they gasped and without a second to spare the gate swung open and one of them called out, "Hey everyone! Our leader is back home!" Just as soon as Irving and the rest walked through the gate, they had been surrounded by the villagers welcoming their leader back, "Lord Irving!" Irving looked back at Chae and Naphalee with a chuckle, "Ummm, help me?"

Chae and Naphalee smiled before shaking their heads, "Nope." Irving didn't get to ask twice as he was lifted above the heads of the villagers that carried him towards the mead hall as Mark called out, "This requires a celebration. Drinks are on me!" Chae and Naphalee giggled as they carried him away, their mother approaching before looking at the two and then at the four new girls, "Okay, I wanna hear, why are there four new girls following you along? Has Irving chatted up even more?" Chae and Naphalee smiled, "Well, not exactly, mother. But lets go and celebrate, because we deserve it."

Waving to the girls to follow them, they headed straight for the mead hall, catching up to the people carrying Irving above their heads, Irving just looking around before sighing, "I guess I cannot fight it." Soon the doors to the mead hall opened up and the female owner came walking towards them, "Ah, welcome back home, my lord. Celebration time?" Chae and Naphalee stopped as they recognized the girl, "Hey, isn't your father here?" The female owner went silent before shaking her head, "No, he passed on."

The mead hall went silent before Irving spoke up to her, "You have my condolences." The female just nodded before her blue eye shimmered, "It is okay. Now lets celebrate your return!" Everyone cheered before the mead began to flow in the hall and even Tavia, Chae, Naphalee, Ambidexa, Lorna, Zahrah and Cassise joined the festivities.

Later that night, a drunken rat could be heard speaking loudly, "You know... you are really cute." Lorna spoke before leaning against Cassise with a warm smile and then against Ambidexa, "And scho are you." Ambidexa and Cassise looked at each other before nodding as they lifted up the rat girl, "Well, you are not having anything more to drink." Lorna objected loudly, but soon found herself falling asleep as she was carried out and the pattern continued with the others drinking at the mead hall that evening, until finally their guest of honor was so drunk he couldn't tell the difference between a girl and a guy and stumbled over to someone with a warm smile, "Hey there. How about we go back to my home and have some VERY fun time?"

His ears did barely recognize the slurry speech before they shared a deep kiss and Irving was leading someone back home, thinking it was one of his two kittens. However the next morning, "Mmm, I feel like I just had the best night ever. How about you tw..." Irving's eyes looked at his bed partner still snoozing away, it was Zahrah and from the scent of the air, they had held nothing back as even the bedsheets had been stained with their love juices. Looking around, Irving attempted to make sense of the situation before the door opened and Tavia came running in with a note, "Irving! You need to..." She saw Irving and Zahrah in bed, her eyes narrowing before she made her way closer to him and gave him an open slap, "You fucked her?! Brother, how could you?!" Irving whimpered gently from the slap, "I didn't mean to! I was so drunk I must have mistaken her for either Chae or Naphalee, I swear!"

Tavia groaned before handing him the note, "Good thing your precious girls couldn't see it then, because they have been kidnapped!" Irving snatched the note from his sister's hand before reading it, "I got your two wives. If you value their lives, then you better meet me at sunset in the woods. Come alone, or I will slay your wives. Signed, your worst enemy." Irving's eyes narrowed before he leaped out of bed and had the armor put on in less than five minutes before grabbing his swords and almost ramming down the door to quickly get out, not hearing Zahrah stir awake or Tavia calling out for him to wait, "I will kill whoever that dares to touch my girls!" The anger was making the winds blow and a storm to form at the lack of control that Irving was having, "Fuck waiting for sunset, I am coming right now, you wife-kidnapping mongrel!" Tavia only watched as her brother was heading towards the woods, "Someone really pissed him off." That wasn't an understatement as soon lightning struck the ground in front of her and in the time it took for Tavia to get up again from being knocked down, Irving was nowhere to be seen.

At the time of the lightning striking, Irving had been brought into a separate plane of existence, his eyes focusing to the sudden lack of the sun, "What is this? An illusion?" He noticed that as his eyes were getting used to the darkness, he was heading towards the woods and from the looks of it, someone was waiting for him outside with Chae and Naphalee bound behind them. Irving grabbed the handle of one of the swords to be ready as the being looked up at him, "Such impatience. Your anger fueling your honor of arriving at time? Or are you wanting to get the best spot for the show?"

Irving looked at the being, the voice sounding like him, but yet it wasn't him. There couldn't be two of him, could it? He wasn't sure what he would do, as the being drew its swords, the exact same ones as his. Irving just stared at the swords before looking up at whatever or whoever it was, "How did..." His voice was drowned in the voice of the other one, "How did I get my hands on these? Simple, I took them."

Irving couldn't believe it, there was a copycat out there that copied him. Irving just nodded before unsheathing his own swords, "I guess yours can't do what mine can." The other one took the same stance as Irving, "Only one way to find out." Irving was ready to make the first move, but the other one had the element of surprise by moving faster than him, managed to swing the fake Átta at him just as Irving parried it and pushed the unknown male away before he felt the armor absorbing something, "Wait, that cannot be. Did you just throw a scythe of air at me?" The male was merely standing up before charging right back in and as Irving attempted to move out of the way, he felt a powerful stream of water pushing him back towards the male who swung the other blade, forcing Irving to shatter it with his own Átta, the male merely landing before the face was exposed and Irving could see himself, but slightly older.

The eyes however were completely black and lifeless, "Now look what you have done." Irving suddenly dropped to one knee as he held onto his chest, crying out in pain, forcing himself to look up at the older him before a kick struck him and Irving tumbled backwards and kept on crying, "Who are you?" The older him was quickly lifting up Irving before pulling off the helmet and punching him hard, making Irving cry out in further more in pain as the older him kept on punching his face repeatedly until a final punch was sending him tumbling even further backwards into a tree, "Who am I? I am the monster that manifests itself within you now. I am the one who you seek to silence. I am the being that you feel right now. This is the pain known only as Regret and Guilt."

Irving slowly got up, "Regret and Guilt? What lies are that?" Irving saw the punch coming and dodged it, but the male was quickly delivering a swift strike with the knee into Irving's gut, the armor not even reducing the pain as Irving collapsed onto his knees and cried out in agony, "What sorcery is this?" The male walked over to him and soon put his armored foot on top of Irving's face, slowly pushing down as Irving began to scream in pain and cry out, "It is your own guilt and regret for not saving your wives, OUR wives." Irving cried out louder and thought to not cry as the male pressed down harder, "You are weaker than you wanna admit. You are regretting and feeling guilt for that you let our wives getting kidnapped."

Irving felt the pressure go away before the male kicked him in the face and Irving cried out as blood came out of his nose and maw, the male applying pressure on his head again with the foot, feeling Irving's weak attempt to lift his foot, letting him slowly push it upwards, giving him hope before stomping down hard, making Irving scream loudly in pain before the male shouted at him, "You are regretting and feeling guilt for them being kidnapped. Do not deny it!"

The male suddenly felt Irving not fighting back and no longer applied pressure as Irving could be heard crying, the male removing his foot from Irving's face, "Yes, I do regret that I let them get kidnapped and I feel that guilt deeply. I could have kept them safe, but instead I ended up in bed with someone else. I cannot forgive myself for it." The male looked at him before nodding, "That is right, you regret it. You feel guilt for it. But so what? It won't mean a thing..." Irving punched the male hard as he fell to the ground and Irving looked at him, "Yes, I do know that it won't mean a thing unless I do something about it. But this is what I intend to do once I find the one who did this." The male merely looked at him before Irving held out a hand, "So lets go. Lets save OUR wives."

The male grabbed Irving's hand before showing an actual smile when he disappeared and soon the darkness broke around Irving as he stood in front of the woods, seeing Chae and Naphalee sitting tied in the distance as a demon stood near them and smirked, Irving merely drawing Átta before beginning to run towards him, "I won't let you live for this, you demanded son of a demonic whore!"

To be continued in chapter 11: Stains of Crimson.